GOODMAN08 REUNION: Six friends begin the journey of a lifetime in the part character drama and part mystery, REUNION, which chronicles the lives of a group of friends over the course of 20 years, the new one-hour drama premiering on FOX. Pictured L-R: Alexa Davalos, Sean Faris, Will Estes, Dave Annable, Chyler Leigh, Amanda Righetti. Cr: M. Ansell/FOX.

One of the duties of a critic is to rise up in moments of seeming innocence and agreeable frivolity and spit on the ground in disdain. The ultimate buzzkill. That's a critic.

The Fox network will premiere a series tonight that perfectly matches the target audience with a product that it will probably enjoy. That doesn't make it OK.

"Reunion" is the kind of drama that makes network executives fall on the ground in joy. It's got a great-looking cast, it's dripping with easily attained emotional highs and lows, it taps into retro hipness while simultaneously being coolly modern. And the best part is it has a tricky little conceit -- and you know that high-concept ideas are in vogue these days.

"Reunion" starts at a funeral in 2005, then flashes back to six high school seniors of various stripes and emotional frailties, graduating in 1986. It's one of them who has died. And one of them is the killer.

The Big Hook is that every episode will represent one year in their lives, culminating in the season finale, 2005, when we find out who the killer is. Fox is gleefully touting that during the course of the season, the cast members will age from 18 to 38, forgetting that this will drop them out of the desired demographic (18-34), which will necessitate their moving into a New York loft next season on NBC.

The possibilities inherent in "Reunion" must have seemed limitless to the Fox brass. You start off in 1986 and -- depending on whether the songs clear -- you've got a soundtrack filled with Madonna and other smile-inducing relics. Next week -- 1987. More songs, different clothes, funny hairstyles, better cars. It's like a Gap/Coca Cola marketing orgasm. No, really, it's perfect.

Except that different doesn't always mean better. "Reunion" has more dishonest heartstring tugs than a John Hughes movie sliced up on AMC and filled with Hallmark ads. And the emotional heavy lifting makes people forget that the actual writing -- in this case, an overdose of voice-over narration -- is sleight, cloying and transparent.

As people begin to praise "Reunion" -- and some fools will undoubtedly fall for the packaging -- you might consider that having a look-see can't hurt. And you'd be right. But the TV landscape is laden with exceptional dramas brawling for your attention. "Reunion" is high-gloss puffery with a neat little conceit -- no more, no less. If you've got issues with time management, then you can't afford to be window shopping here. There's better fare elsewhere.

Besides, what if you do fall for this series? What if you love the nostalgia so much -- songs, clothes, hair -- and the whodunit nature of the thing that you dedicate yourself to the entire season? By the show's very nature, one of its six cast members won't be coming back. And besides, they'll be celebrating their 20-year reunion in the finale. That hair you liked so much will be graying. They'll all be dressed in clothes that even you're wearing now. And they'll be listening to songs you just bought on iTunes.

There's not much of a second act for "Reunion." Some of the cast could be recycled for a second season -- playing someone's parents -- but that's a WB series, not a Fox show. The point is, once people fall in love with a series, they want to see it again, season after season. They want to grow with the characters. This applies even to shows with the most absurd premises, like "24." You can't save the world three or four times -- except when people demand it. So Jack Bauer is not dead.

But with everyone aging so fast in "Reunion" -- not to mention that the actors are on one- and two-year contracts, not the industry norm of five or six -- you have to start thinking about the payoff on your investment. There's a very real chance that "Reunion" is a one-season series, if it makes it that far. (Thursdays at 9 p.m.? Good luck with that.)

See -- cynicism. Why spit on a perfectly good little drama that -- with a whole bunch of cute faces and old-school tunes and cheap dramatics -- passes an hour rather quickly? Why be worried about the second season when the first hasn't even started? Why not celebrate the idea of a very British-like concept -- a limited-run TV series?

OK, then. Here's the specifics, if you must: There's rich preppy Craig (Sean Faris); his much poorer best friend, Will (Will Estes); Craig's girlfriend, Samantha (Alexa Davalos), who has slept with Will once (and almost got pregnant -- oh my God!); her best friend forever, Carla (Chyler Leigh), who's supposed to be a wallflower but is mighty cute; Aaron (Dave Annable), the naive good guy who can't see how perfect he'd be with Carla because he's really smitten with Madonna-wannabe Jenna (Amanda Righetti), whose big dreams are too big for this small town and whose righteous body is too major league for them as well, so she's dating a teacher.

Class dismissed.

There is a car accident. The responsible party doesn't take the fall. Love connections are not made. Lives take dramatic turns. It's summer -- they all go off and do stuff. Sometime between then and now, one of these friends for life kills another in the group. It's like "The Big Chill" meets "Beverly Hills 90210," and it's probably a perfect companion series to "The O.C.," which enters its third season an hour before "Reunion."

It's just not very good. And there can't be a true second season. And -- oh, forget it. Shows like this are the reason no one watches "The Wire."